Closure
by magicmumu
Summary: When Ariel was 10, her gifts allowed her to help someone for the first time. After saving Sara, Ariel still felt the guilt of not being there for her sooner...


Closure

by Erin Griffin

Fandom: Medium

Rating: K+

Genre: Supernatural, slight angst, friendship

Characters: Ariel, Sara, Allison

Spoilers: This story takes place about the 9th or 10th episode of the first season of Medium and only spoils that episode.

Summary: After the first time her dreams allowed her to help someone, Ariel visits the girl she'd been dreaming about in hopes that she'd forgive her.

Disclaimer: I want to say that it is CBS that owns Medium. Either way, it isn't me.

Note: I am not sure why I got this out, but I felt things were a little undone after the episode, so I did the one thing that I usually do when I need to cope with something like this, which was to write something.

*THE EPISODE THIS STORY REFLECTS MENTIONED CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN. THOUGH THIS STORY DOESN'T EMBELISH ON THESE CRIMES, THERE ARE STILL RESIDUAL MENTIONS OF THEM AND THOSE SENSITIVE TO SUCH MATERIAL SHOULDN'T CONTINUE TO READ THIS STORY.

Ariel remembered the first time her gifts were used for something good. When she was ten, she had dreams of a little girl named Sara who had been locked away by an ogre. Of course, there wasn't a true castle, and there was no friendly dragons, but the moster was real. That was when Ariel found out that there were real people who were bad, that people really did hurt eachother because they were hurting or sick inside. She knew then, that she could trust in her mother to explain things, to help her and to believe her when she needed her the most. The dreams may have been about a tragic princess, but the princess still had Ariel's face, and she was angry at Ariel. She could still feel her own fingers against her throat as her own image choked her in a warning and punishment.

Days after Sara had been found and her ogre died, Ariel went back to Sara's house and saw Sara's brother in front of the gate, just as she had the last time. He looked at her, but he didn't say a word. Instead, he went inside. A moment later, the door opened slowly, and there she was, the girl Ariel was dreaming about for almost a full week. She looked a lot like Ariel. She was blonde, and about her hieght and weight, but there was the sure sign that she had been through too much at their age. There was also something strange in her eyes. She looked as if she already knew Ariel, and in many ways, it was as if they needn't say a word to eachother. "You're the girl from my dreams," Sara said, breaking the initial, slightly awkward silence between them.

"Your-" Ariel tried to say, but Sara continued on, which forced the DuBois girl to silence herself.

"I dreampt... right before I was free... I dreampt of you. I kept yelling at you, and it was like... You wanted to help me, but you didn't know how." Sara wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the door frame. She took a step back into the house, but her eyes remained on Ariel.

"Do you hate me?" Ariel asked. Though she didn't elaborate more, Sara seemed to know what she meant and shook her head.

"No. I hate him, but he's dead now." The way Sara said this made Ariel think that it wasn't true, and in some ways, it wasn't. Sara would always remember. She will always live her life around what the ogre had done to her those two years.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you before," Ariel said, tucking strands of hair that fell out of her headband back behind one ear.

Sara was silent for a while as she stared at Ariel, and ashamed, Ariel's eyes cast down to the ground. "I feel like... you were the one who did help me. Was the nice lady, the one who lent me her coat- Was she your mom?"

"Yeah," Ariel replied.

"Why would she be there if it wasn't you who helped me? Why else would I dream of you if I don't even know you?" Sara asked.

"Do you believe you could have dreams that come true?" Ariel asked in return.

"I believe... that anything, good or bad, could happen to someone." There was another silence. "Wanna come in?"

"Actually, I can't," Ariel said regretfully. "My mom is waiting for me. I just... I wanted to make sure."

Sara nodded, and she seemed a little disappointed by this. "Okay."

"If I ask my mom, and you ask yours... Would you like to have a movie day with me?" Ariel asked. Sara nodded, and though it was unspoken, Ariel knew that it would have to be there at her house, but Ariel didn't mind.

"Yeah."

"Okay. My mom still has your phone number, so I will call you and tell you what she said."

Sara nodded and watched as Ariel turned with a wave. "Hey!" Ariel turned back to look at Sara, curiousity in her eyes. "I know that if you could two years ago, you would have helped me then. I don't blame you or anything, okay?" Ariel nodded and offered a small smile.

"I'll call you tomorrow," she said again. She waved again and hurried down the block, where her mother waited in the station wagon.

"How'd it go?" Allison asked, watching her daughter closely.

Ariel slowly put on her seat belt as she thought of a reply that made any sense. She couldn't really put into words how she felt, but there was a sense of knowing that the word she needed did, in fact, exsist. "Okay." Ariel settled into her seat.

"No more guilty feelings?"

"She saw me, mom. She had dreams of me, too. She..."

"She knew you were coming."

"She knew I would listen, just like you told me, Mom," Ariel said in a somewhat hushed voice. Her face got a little bit red as she fought back tears. "I know she will never be normal, but not in the same way I won't be normal."

"Sometimes, not being normal is a good thing. And I know that things happened to her that should never happen to anybody, but maybe, like you, she might find away to use that- her story, her knowledge to help someone else someday." When Ariel didn't say anything after her nod of understanding, Allison started up the car. "I'm glad you got a little bit of closure, Sweetheart." With that, she manuvered the car so that it left the curb, and the DuBois' drove home.


End file.
